How Jimmy Palmer And Jessica Knight's CSI Romance Will Be A Total Departure From Previous Couplings
The will-they-or-won't-they scenario is one of those things that fans either love or hate in television shows. Viewers decide a couple belongs together, and the writers and producers milk it for all its worth before allowing them any happiness. Sara Sidle (Jorja Fox) and Gil Grissom (William Petersen) had an obvious attraction since the beginning of "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation." Still, it wasn't until Season 6, Episode 24 ("Way To Go") that it was confirmed that Gil and Sara were in a relationship.
Similarly, Ziva David (Cote de Pablo) and Tony DiNozzo (Michael Weatherly) of "NCIS" finally kissed in Season 11, Episode 2 ("Past, Present, and Future"), only for the episode to be Pablo's last after eight seasons of flirting and denying their feelings. And then we had fan favorites Ellie Bishop (Emily Wickersham) and Nick Torres (Wilmer Valderrama). While Bishop began the show married in Season 11, after her divorce, viewers began begging for her and Torres to start a romance. Unfortunately, before anything was official, Wickersham left the show at the end of Season 18.
With "NCIS" now in its 20th season, the writers and showrunner Steven D. Binder have a new couple they're cooking up, and they plan to do things very differently this time.
Showrunner Binder plans to show the realism of workplace dating with Knight and Palmer
The chemistry between "NCIS's" Katrina Law and Brian Dietzen, who play Jessica Knight and Dr. Jimmy Palmer, respectively, has been apparent since the actors' first scenes. But Binder and the writers are hoping this relationship will form more naturally than those in the past. "This one is something that we birthed ourselves, in a vacuum," Binder told TV Line. "We didn't want to go down the same road we went down before. Instead, we wanted it to play out more realistically — two people at work, who actually [are] having feelings towards each other, and they're not being so coy about it."
It's obvious they're already doing things differently, with Knight and Palmer already shown kissing in Season 19, Episode 21 ("Birds of a Feather"), which would've been unheard of for previous couples. But Binder thinks there's a lot to explore with their relationship and says, "we're trying to do something that's realistic to the time and place we live in — and, as a side note, is entertaining as well." It's definitely a refreshing change for the show.